The Paranoid Strain

Brand. Spanking. New. Content.   Welcome back. This episode inaugurates a nice, long run of new stuff that should lead all the way up to the U.S. Presidential election, assuming we're still gonna go ahead and hold that thing. We figured that, for the back half of this historically weird year, it might be appropriate for us to focus on the fact that throughout our history, all the way back to the c...

We're back, just a week(!) later, with the last third of the show's original, 2017 first episode. We could have cut it into two chunks of even length, but that would have split the interview in half, which seemed like a weird thing to do. So rather than give you a ten-minute episode this week, we've also tacked on a fascinating discussion with historian Rick Perlstein, the author of some of the be...

PHASE TWO IS UPON US. Please do not panic. We're ready for this. As promised, we're starting our new, more frequent content feed with the first two-thirds of our very first episode. It includes high-falutin discussions of what, exactly, we mean by conspiracy theories, why people believe them, and what this whole show is supposed to be about. The last bit of this one comes out in a week or two, wit...

As noted above, this isn't a real episode, but it is a real announcement. You're gonna start hearing this show every two weeks. Or sometimes, if we're feeling frisky, every week. But don't count on that second thing. Everything's gonna be shorter and punchier, but we'll still put out big long compilations of our topics. But why are we telling you this here? You can learn all about that in our seve...

Hey--remember, like, five or six months ago, when we told you the next episode would be a recap? And that we'd go over all the stuff that had happened to the topics in our old episodes since we created those episodes? And then it turned out we lied about that, twice, because COVID conspiracies were just too transcendently weird and timely to pass up? Well, it's finally time to put out that long-de...

Yeah, I know. This wasn't the episode we promised last time. But coronavirus is, in addition to being a real asshole of a disease, also the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to frightened dipshits generating an endless panoply of new conspiracy theories. This is another "Quick Hit", but it's over an hour. No, our nomenclature doesn't even make a lot of sense to us, but hopefully this is pret...

Whaaaaaa? A new episode? But it's been just a few weeks?  That's right, Strainiacs. We're back in the saddle, albeit an indoor, socially distancing, "shelter in place" kind of saddle, to spread some facts and debunk some nonsense around the pandemic plague that suddenly has the world's undivided attention. This is a true "quick hit", production to your ears in just a couple of weeks. We hope you e...

Sorry about the delay, but we’re very pleased to present you, via our brand new podcast feed (which should, from your perspective, be completely indistinguishable from our original feed), the second half of our reality episode. This time, we’re orienting our discussion around the singular perspective of one of the most interesting and influential writers of the 20th century, Philip K Dick. You may...

We came, we saw, we conquered, and we rendered it all into an mp3 file. Welcome back to the Paranoid Strain. This is the first of a two-part series that is not, technically, about conspiracy theories per se. We see this show as a proud defender of reality against conspiracist nonsense. But we felt it would be unfair if we didn’t spend a couple of episodes exploring exactly how little we understand...

Welcome back. We hope you enjoyed the silliness of our previous, Moon landing episode, because unfortunately, this topic is deadly serious.  Yes, unfortunately, in spite of the almost unbelievable number of lives that have been saved by vaccinations over the past couple hundred years, a still-growing number of well-intentioned, but deeply ill-informed parents continue to avoid or delay vaccination...

That’s one small episode for a Jesuit…one giant leap for a podcast feed. Howdy, and welcome to oneathem fun, lighthearted episodes of Ye Olde Paranoid Strain. This one covers the silly, silly idea that we didn’t land on the moon. A bunch of times. But we did.  We could have stopped there, but we think you’ll be glad we didn’t. We also covered a bunch of others moon-related stuff. Where did it come...

Hi. Miss us? The Chads say “Hi”–they weren’t with you last month because…you know, actually, I have no idea why. They were raving something about the Quantum Malarkey discombobulating the flat Earth and preventing their transmissions, but I think they were just drunk. We, on the other hand, have returned as promised with the second of our assassination episodes. This one, though, is something real...

My, my, my. Have two months flown by already? Where does the time go? Thanks for all of your concern–I safely escaped from the clutches of the Chads, though at the loss of significant dignity (and sanity). And to celebrate, I made you a piping hot podcast episode. Hold on. It needs to cool for a few minutes. Don’t burn yourself. This is the first of our two assassination episodes. In part one, we...

Guys, I’m not gonna lie. Some stuff went down in this one. Yes, it’s once again a Stupid Land episode. And yes, that once again means you won’t find a single reliable fact in it. But this one…this one was different. it was an experience so intense that at the end, I felt like I needed a Silkwood shower. It went to new, different, and horrifying places. What makes this episode different from all ot...

Hey there, Strainiacs. Today, we bring you another of our Quick Hit episodes. Yes, that means the return of the Quick Hit guy. PARANOID STRAIN! QUICK HIT!!!!! Yeah. We missed him, too. It’s also a weird sort of hybrid. We were planning to do a show based on our interview and tour at Denver International Airport in 2017, where we were able to carefully document the true stories behind the unmitigat...

Ok. Nobody panic. It’s happening again. But we’ve been through this before, haven’t we? We understand that sometimes terrible things happen. Wars. Plagues. Disasters. Stupid Land. Yes, they’re back. And it appears they’re multiplying–this episode relates a report from a hitherto unsuspected third Chad. Whether this 50% increase in Chadness is through ideological reprogramming, some sort of slimy p...

Welcome back to your home away from home, the Paranoid Strain. This time, we squash flat earth beliefs…well, flat, I suppose. Stupid English language.  We both know that flat earthers are all over the place these days. But why? And how? And where did all of these ideas come from? As you might expect, since we’re raising all of these rhetorical questions, we have rhetorical answers. We’ve been thro...

Wait–we’re doing this again? Many have approached me, deep concern on their eager faces. “Why, Fearful?” they plead. “Why do you let them do such awful, unspeakable things to your beautiful podcast feed?” I always know what they’re talking about. They’re referring to the Chads, and their eldritch power over me. I wish I could give them a better understanding–I lack that understanding myself. Perha...

Back in record time, we’re here to provide closure for our 9/11 story. Last time we touched on this national tragedy and its discontents, we dealt with stuff that, while fundamentally incorrect, was at least based on reasonable suspicions. This time, we’re only dealing with 9/11 truthers who are either unbelievably racist, completely unhinged, or both. And yes, we are finally pleased to unveil THE...

I know what you’re thinking. This was supposed to be 9/11 Part 2. And don’t worry–it’s still coming. But this super-stupid Qanon thing was just begging for a good ol’ ass-whuppin’, and we decided to oblige. For those of you who’ve somehow missed it, Qanon is a seriously deranged conspiracy theory in which some of Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters assert without evidence that he is cooperating...

A brand-new, steaming heap of whatever it is that the Chads do is now here for your delectation.  Following through on our lifelong, three-month commitment to delivering monthly content, we present the second of our collaborations with the weirdos at Stupid Land. This time, they’ve done… something… terrible with the previous episode, Part 1 of our 9/11 discussion. I’d try to explain it better, but...

Just in time for the 4th of July, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming. This time, we’re bringing you the story of 9/11, and the Truthers who are only too happy to remind you that jet fuel can’t…well, you know. As you can discern from the title, our next full episode is going to handle the second part of this story–this one’s all about reasonable people’s doubts about 9/11. The next o...

I can already hear you: “It’s been two months. Where’s the new episode of our favorite anti-conspiracy theory podcast?” What? We’re not your favorite? You’ve been seeing other anti-conspiracy theory podcasts? How could you? Think of the children. Anyhoo, what we bring to you today is not a new standard-issue episode. In fact, you can think of this as episode 7.5. Mostly because that’s what we’ve c...

Call it Easter, call it April Fool’s…either way, we’ve got one helluva present for you. It’s the seventh episode of the Paranoid Strain. This time, we’re dealing with the concept of False Flags. And with the world’s most (in)famous purveyor of said concept, Alex Jones. Among the many surprising things you may learn in this episode is that, in spite of the fact that Mr. Jones is one million percent...

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a plane spraying evil, toxic, murderous chemtrails! Nope. It’s the Paranoid Strain. Howdy! Having rested up after our three-part exploration of the right-wing Sovereign Citizen and Posse Comitatus movements,  we’re ready to move onto attacking a conspiracy that is far more popular with the other side of the aisle. If you’ve ever wondered why som...